Girl talk
by Ohgress
Summary: Sometimes you need a drink and your girlfriends, especially if you've met someone like Martin Riggs. Part 2 of The Riggsmer series


Karen Palmer walked briskly into the crowded DC bar, slammed her bag down at the bar desk and sighed.

"What's up with you, K? Bad day at work?" Her old friends from college, Vicky and Patricia, were already there and was staring at her frowned look. When she'd gotten a text from Pat about an AW she instantly accepted. She really needed a drink and her friends.

"Sorry, hi!" Karen hugged her friends and slide onto the barstool they'd kept free for her. "No, work was fine. Slow day." She tried to get the bartender's attention but it was Friday afternoon and the place was packed.

"Here, have some of my wine", Pat offered. Karen accepted and took a sip.

"So, what is it? New regulation's a bitch?" Vicky, who also worked government, asked.

"No, no…" She might as well say it. That was the big reason why she wanted to be here. "I've met someone."

"WHAAAAAT?" Vicky exploded. Pat just looked stunned.

"Oh my God, Karen! Tell us!" Vicky had always been the gossipy and talkative one of the three of them. She knew who had slept with whom within the suit business of DC. "Which department?"

"No, he's not here in DC, thank God!" Her friends looked at her with eyes curious like little children at bedtime story time, so she just continued. "He's a cop, in LA."

"Karen, again?" Vicky knew her friend and her rebound stories.

"Yeah, I know. I know! And believe, all the warning signs are there and they're huge. He's a widower and completely crazy. Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. Like, he's almost gotten me killed multiple times."

"Whaaat?" Now her friends looked concerned.

"Yeah, but he has also saved my life multiple times too."

"What happened?"

"I can't talk about it, we worked a case together, and yeah. Stuff happened."

"Oh my God, tell us more. This is the most exciting thing I've heard in a month. Did you meet him at work then?" Vicky was almost bouncing on her barstool. Karen finally got to order.

"Yeah, we met working a case a few months back. He was train wreck then. I asked him out, but he said no."

"Wow, Karen." Pat chimed in.

"I know, he looked like he could need a friend but I guess it was too soon. He lost his wife in some kind of car accident, I'm guessing like a year ago now."

"Ouch. Harsh."

"Yeah, so I know all the signs and they weren't good last time, believe me." Her girlfriends nodded. They had helped her cope with her divorce. Karen didn't need to say more. "Then I met him again last week when I was in LA, and he's doing better now. I can tell. He's sober for once."

"Oh, so it was that bad."

"It was that bad, and the way he didn't seem to care about himself." Karen thought back to Riggs' complete lack of self-preservation.

"Karen, I'm gonna say this one more time. You don't have to fix all the guys."

"I know, Vicky."

"Maybe you should just be friends," Pat suggested.

"Probably yes." Karen had finally gotten her drink and took a long swing of her Gin & Tonic.

"But…" Vicky sensed her friend's frustration.

Karen put her drink down and sighed.

"I'm really fucking attracted to him."

"Eeeeeeeee girl!" Vicky shouted so loud so half the bar turned to them. Karen hid her face in her hands, blushing.

"Oh my God, you really are, you're fucking blushing, K!" Vicky laughed and pointed at her. Pat giggled.

"Stop." Karen looked up again and tried to keep a straight face. "And he's really not my type, like miles from it."

"Well, maybe that's why?" Pat, the voice of reason, spoke.

"Oh oh, do you have a picture? He must be hot then."

Karen blushed some more. "I, uh… yeah but it's not very good. I sneaked a picture of him while we were working the other night."

"Oooh, working nights together, alright!" Vicky exclaimed and held up her palm for Pat to high-five it which she did and giggled.

Karen smiled and fiddled with her phone. She had sneaked more than one picture that night, and every time she had, Riggs had teased her for facebooking instead of working and if that what he thought she was doing then it was alright. She did not want to get caught taking pictures of her handsome colleague. What was she? 15?

She chose a picture of Riggs where he was leaning forward on his knees, reading a file, but with a small smile on his face, like he wasn't reading the file at all but was somewhere far away in thought. She liked that one. He looked peaceful in it, his hazel eyes kind, sandy brown curls hanging down on the side of his face. She held up her phone for her friends to see.

"Oh! Okay. That is some mustache," was the first thing Vicky said.

"He's got really nice eyes though," Pat commented. "And hair. I wanna touch that hair."

"Mm-hm." Karen could only agree.

"Strong thigh game. Juicy arms. Big hands. Yeah, I'd fuck him."

"Vicky!" Pat giggled.

"Really Vicky? That's… Okay, thanks, I guess I got your approval," Karen laughed.

"Damn right, girl," Vicky said and finished her drink.

Pat was still curious about the weird looking guy on Karen's phone, which Karen couldn't stop staring at. "Is he from LA?"

"No, he's from Texas originally," Karen answered and finally shut her phone, putting it back in her bag.

"Oooooooooh! Hello cowboy style!" Vicky was on a roll. She might not admit it, but she was seriously happy for her friend. Karen had had a tough time since the divorce, and if her instincts were right, this guy and Karen had a lot in common.

Pat and Karen rolled their eyes at Vicky's antics.

"Well, I think he looks nice, Karen," Pat assured.

"Yeah… he is. He can't follow orders worth a damn, but one can tell he's been married. I'm just not sure if it's the right time now, for him, and I don't wanna be a rebound." Her friends nodded in agreement. "But he just triggers me, you know. Makes me say all these stupid things, he must think I'm so goddamn desperate."

"Aren't you goddamn desperate?" Vicky asked with a raised eyebrow.

Karen snorted and the sighed. "Yeah, I guess. But I don't really know if he's interested in a real thing. And I'm so fucking tired of random dating now. Ugh! If someone suggests another movie and dinner date I'm gonna puke." Vicky and Pat snickered.

"Well, have you been on a date with… Wait, what's his name?" Pat asked.

"Martin. Martin Riggs. No, we haven't, but he did buy me food. Like a lot of food, when we were doing that all-nighter going through files. And that's the thing, that's really not his style. I mean, you're not wrong about the whole cowboy vibe, Vicky."

"Aaah yeah!" Vicky tipped her new glass of wine to Karen.

"He's a complete gun nut, ex-military, and he helped me go through all those files that night. It was nice. We had fun, and a lot of Chinese food."

Pat saw that Karen had something dreamy in her eyes. Her friend had it good. "Well, I think it sounds like he's interested. He wouldn't have done that otherwise. A guy doesn't do those kinds of things if they're not at least a little bit interested."

"You think?" Both Pat and Vicky nodded.

"Well, I'm scared I've might have been a bit too pushy and scared him away."

"What? What did you do?"

"We had this moment just before I left LA. I think he was trying to hide from me," Karen giggled. "He sort of hid behind his desk when he saw me coming and it was so cute, I just had to tell him I had liked working with him, and he kind of blushed or something… Anyway, he gave me this look, and yeah, I'm so fucking done for." Karen sighed and put her head in her arms on the bar desk. "We kissed in the elevator and then it was really awkward."

"Oh! You kissed him? Really?" Now it was Pat who spoke up first. Vicky was becoming quite hammered by now and was checking around the bar for potential candidates. "How was it?"

"Really nice," Karen said and peeked out on Pat from her hide away spot. "Like really, really nice."

"Oh, honey!" Pat rubbed Karen's back. She sat back up.

"And now I don't know."

"Well, has he called?"

"What? No! It's not like that. I don't what we are, or we are going to see each other again, but the probability is high since I'm working this big case in LA…"

"Well, then just see what happens next then. Go slow. He seems like a really nice guy, Karen."

"Mm, I guess you're right," Karen sighed. The thing was, she missed Martin. DC had become boring and she was honestly considering transfering to LA. The DEA had her fly over there regularly anyway so, and it was hard switching time zones all the time. She was tired of it. The last couple of days, all her thoughts had constantly been returning to a certain charming guy with huge problems on the other side of the country and she just knew she was in for the ride.

"Ugh! Enough about me, what about you guys?"


End file.
